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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Jim Crow: Back with a Vengeance

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"This act flows from a clear and simple wrong. Its only purpose is to
right that wrong. Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote
because of their color. This law will ensure them the right to vote. The
wrong is one which no American, in his heart, can justify. The right is
one which no American, true to our principles, can deny."

Okay, they didn't actually come out and say it, but the implications were very loud and all-too-clear. So, the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been unconstitutional for all these years? Who'd have thunk?

Uncle Thomas

I said to someone
recently that Texas will go blue in 2016 for the first time in
decades. That was simply because of the natural - and totally expected -
shift in the voting demographic that was bound to take place. It was as
inevitable as the sun rising in the eastern sky. All bets are off. What the Supreme
Court did yesterday was nothing more than putting a halt to a natural, sociological evolution. Clarence Thomas - America's Favorite House Nigger - said out loud that if he had his way, he
would do away with Affirmative Action as well. Here is a question and
answer I've posed on this site before. Forgive the repetition but it
most definitely deserves repeating:

`QUESTION: Where do you think Judge Thomas would be today had it not been for Affirmative Action?

`ANSWER: He would be mounted on the front lawn of some beer
distributor's home in Albany, Georgia, wearing a jockey uniform and
holding a lamp.

For nearly fifty years, the Voting Rights Act mandated that states with a history of discrimination had to check with the federal government if they wanted to make certain "changes" in their laws regarding voting requirements. As of yesterday that is not the case any longer. They're rejoicing today down in dear ol' Dixie.

The forces of reaction and and suppression have been in a full-tilt FREAK OUT ever since the American people elected the first African American to the White House five years ago. That was something that was never supposed to happen. They had no other choice but to declare a full-scale, state of emergency. Within a matter of months the Republicans were whining about "voter fraud" - an epidemic that was non-existent. Their scheme was to make it as difficult as humanly possible for the traditional Democratic constituency to cast their precious ballots by forcing them to purchase ID cards. That is what is known as a "poll tax".

Perhaps in order to deflect the outrage that was surely to occur as the result of this jaw-droppingly awful decision, the very next day the Supremes struck down the heart of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Sure enough, a lot of liberals were busting their giddy little guts in glee, nearly oblivious to this latest assault on democracy. Incredibly, the New York Daily News didn't even mention it. To no one's surprise, today states all across the old confederacy have announced that they're going to initiate sweeping changes in their voting laws. The extremists on the Supreme Court mentioned at the top of this piece have seen to it that this country remain a plutocratic dictatorship for at least another generation - or more.

Elderly people, the poor, college students, those who live in the city (all of whom tend to vote Democratic - go figure) will be hurt by this decision. Interestingly, there has not been a whisper of condemnation from the National Rifle Association about any of this. You would think that, for all their talk about the BIG, BAD GOVERNMENT and their interference in our lives, they would be (literally) up in arms. There hasn't been a word from those assholes. Similarly, nary a peep from the Tea Party or the libertarian types....You can hear the freakin' crickets chirping.. The hypocrisy could be cut with an antique emery board.

Can you imagine if Mitt Romney had been elected last year? Two or more right wing neanderthals on that court would have meant the end of democracy in America. There's still hope on the horizon. By the looks of things Antonin Scalia is looking a little worse for the wear these days. Not that I want the hideous old bastard to drop dead or anything like that....

The five justices responsible for yesterday's decision were all appointed by either Reagan or one of the Bushes. Can you see what conservative brand of governance is doing to your country?

Tom DeganGoshen, NY

NOTE TO READERS:

Due to a temporary glitch in my computer I am unable to post anything in the comments section of this site. If I don't respond to a direct inquiry please take no offense. There is a direct link to my email in the "About Me" section at the top of this page. By all means, feel free.

I wrote this piece nearly six years ago and caught a lot of flack for it at the time. As John Huston once said, "I never did anything worth a damn that I didn't catch hell for". But I don't take back a word of it - not even that word.

A special shout-out of thanks to Facebook chum Sally Sinden for providing the cartoon at the top of this piece.

AFTERTHOUGHT:

Those of us who are old enough to remember how unpopular LBJ was when he left office in January 1969 are amazed at how good he is starting to look in hindsight!

Mr. Winkler, whose website says he has an undergraduate history degree from Harvard and a law degree from the University of Minnesota, seemed to dig the hole deeper in a subsequent tweet, in which he said the racism of the term “Uncle Tom” was disputed and unknown to him.

Well...I took the news of this particular decision in stride. Maybe these states have learned their lesson?

Yeah...I'm not buying that either.

After watching the 'kerfuffle' that has been the discussion on immigration, after you get past the legality, the faux outrage of our soil being victimized, and fears that those coming to this country aren't 'bright' enough; you'll find conservatives are mostly concerned with the 'browning' of America.

This current incarnation of conservatism also has no plans whatsoever to reach out to 'minorities' who will soon become the majority. ...and why should they? Over the past five years they have perfected being 'victims,' so their natural evolution should be to a minority status.

You have to appreciate the political shell game Republicans attempt with voting. Isn't it funny how on the eve of an Federal Election Florida always gets worried about it's voter rolls? They aren't looking at those rolls now during an off year--it'll again be an issue in 2016.

When it comes to the GOP, fixing the vote isn't limited to just those who vote Democrat either. Just look at the number of GOP primaries that were 'miscounted' and called for Romeny--quickly. Google the Maine GOP primary, or the melee that broke at the Missouri Caucus and you'll find that the GOP doesn't even care what it's own constituency has to say. Of all people to report on this suppression of the conservative vote, it was that "evil liberal" Rachael Maddow.

I say we give these states the benefit of the doubt. But do keep watching and listening. This lunge for power by the GOP might be the lunge that makes them fall and break their neck.

“I think that it is updated, not outdated,” Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network said. “Updated in that since that it takes different forms because we’re in different social settings now, we have different options now.”

On Tuesday during his nationally syndicated radio show Keeping It Real, Sharpton discussed at length with his audience the notion of Uncle Tom, who he really was, what the term should mean, and what it means now. After engaging dialogue about the history and true origins of Tom, Sharpton gave a modern, “updated” definition for the criteria to be a Tom.

He sums it up as this: An Uncle Tom is one that in a deliberate way, seeks personal favor or acceptance at the expense of his race and at the expense of what he or she knows to be right.

During the radio program a few callers threw out names of individuals who they considered “Uncle Toms.” Names like conservative Armstrong Williams, Fox News pundit Juan Williams and former RNC chair Michael Steele. But Sharpton quickly made the point that political ideology does not make a person a Tom.

However, the name most used by the callers during the discussion was Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court. A few callers pointed to recent reports that Thomas hasn’t spoken on the bench in five years. They felt that he was simply put on the court as the “black justice” to further an anti-black agenda.

“Does one believe that Clarence Thomas genuinely believes that he is on the Supreme Court based on his merit and therefore makes those decisions or does he recognize that he was put there by George Bush as a replacement for Thurgood Marshall as the black on the court and therefore he uses the designation for purposes other than need of the purposes that designation was assigned for. If you believe that latter than you would have to say that he’s an Uncle Tom. If you believe the former than you have to say he isn’t,” Sharpton said.

Looking at the face of Justice Clarence Thomas (Uncle Tom) gives me a case of the creeps. His face is blank, his eyes empty, no real sign of life. Quite frankly, he looks as if he's been drugged. This man scares me. Through Affirmative Action he was able to rise to American judicial stardom, now he conveniently forgets from whence he came? Really?

He seems to foster some sociopathic tendencies, in as much as he, without an apparent blink of an eye was able to weasle his way to an appointment to the Supreme Court by consistently kissing white ass. This man is a traitor to his race and he doesn't seem to lose any sleep over it. He cares not one bit for his fellow African-Americans, nor the safety of their right to vote without complications. He made that clear as he declared the voting rights act no longer constitutional. What a bunch of rubbish coming from a black man wearing the robes of a Supreme Court Justice.

Based on various conservative comments from Justice Thomas over the years, he sold out so long ago he forgot where he came from, the anti-discrimination laws that helped get him there, and he cares not if those laws are in place for future generations of minorities which are fast becoming the majority.

As President Obama and his family continue their tour of Africa, the White House put out a Fact Sheet entitled "U.S. Support for Strengthening Democratic Institutions, Rule of Law, and Human Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa." One of the first items highlighted by the White House is a $53 million program in Kenya that helps young people "obtain National identification cards, a prerequisite to voter registration."

Anonymous, Valid ID is required for one to REGISTER to vote in all 50 states. But to ask people to get another form just to vote is wrong. In Texas one can use an NRA membership card as "valid ID" but not a Student ID. WHY? Gun owners mostly vote GOP, while students tend to vote Democrat. Go figure. There have been something like EIGHT confirmed cases of individual tax fraud in the last 40 years. The GOP is batshit crazy over "voter fraud" Hwever, in the 2000 election Florida(who's govornor was a candidates BROTHER) screwed up so bad that the Supreme court had to choose the POTUS. In 2004 voting machines made by Diabold (The CEO of which was a close personal friend of a candidates father) were proven to be easily hackabler with no paper backup. BOTH times the connected candidate won. Not a peep about voter fraud from the right in either case. Go figure.

No Mozart I do not know exactly what Dave meant. Explain and answer, you need to do so in order to illogical support your position.If you can't, well that will speak for it's self.Stopping being a liberal name caller.

Thank you, Tom, for articulating what many of us feel but haven't the verbal skills you demonstrate. Thanks especially for holding on to your freedom of expression, your anger and your sense of mission. It is all too easy to get too tired to keep up what you are doing.Mason Myatt

Another reason why we must have stronger gun control laws.Our frigging federal govt cant keep track of the ones they own for starters!

The U.S. Park Police has lost track of a huge supply of handguns, rifles and shotguns, according to a report released Thursday on the law enforcement agency responsible for safeguarding the National Mall and critical American landmarks.

In the scathing report, the inspector general’s office of the Department of Interior faults staff at the agency for having no idea how many weapons they control and says the department has no clear policies or procedures for investigating missing weapons. The office said top managers, including the police chief, have shown a “lackadaisical attitude toward firearms management.”

“Historical evidence indicates that this indifference is a product of years of inattention to administrative detail and management principles,” deputy inspector general Mary Kendall wrote to Jonathan Jarvis, the director of the National Park Service, in a letter that accompanies the report.

Mozart,See what I mean? We get angry gibberish for a response, but no reasoned disagreement.

However we do see the authoritarian personality on display in the form of a command, "provide a response to this discussion."

Some "discussion", eh? Do as they command and don't expect any answers. This is exactly how "good conservatives" like it. (In case you're wondering, "Good conservatives" are not good conservative persons, but authoritarians.) My grandmother was a good conservative person. She answered questions AND baked me cookies.

Not sure what "inane" questions he's dodging. Perhaps the one asking where his ideology differs from the exclusive political agenda of the economic elites. Or perhaps the question asking if they disagree with ANYTHING Beck and Limbaugh spew. How "inane", right?

But never mind, do as you are commanded by the authoritarian dittohead.

Imagine that kind of authoritarianism in power to serve only the elites. It means the end of democracy, demonizing liberals, suppressing dissent, politicized science, theocracy, and a new Dark Age of neo-feudal rule by divine right of wealth.

This is what "good conservatives" are offering in replacement for democracy, peer reviewed science, safety nets for workers whose jobs were off-shored by their economic elite "job providers", health care and food for the poor, and Constitutional general welfare of the country.

Yes, they actually believe the party of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich will rule the American people with wisdom and compassion.

For a guy that blogs "Freedom Rants" but refuses to criticize recent events such as the current White using the IRS to target groups opposed to it and monitoring phone records of citizens including Associated Press reporters shows what a hypocrite you are. You are a joke and have your head real deep up Obama's ass. But instead why don't you go off on a tangent ranting what Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck said or a poster that has Obama with a bone in his nose that some nutjob made that nobody fucking cares about to avoid answering the current administration's trampling of our freedoms?

Funny how we liberals "worship" Obama while criticizing his tendency to continue the Bush/Cheney surveillance state. It's also funny how the boobs on the Right whine like crybabies when the IRS asks the politically active tea party questions before allowing them tax exemption. It's also no surprise they are completely ignorant of how Bush's Justice Department was politicized and gave special surveillance to peace groups as if they were terrorists. They ignore the fact the IRS also scrutinized liberal groups, Greenpeace, and the NAACP.

Crybabies. Ignorant, hateful crybabies.

But disagreeing with these boobs is being a "Marxist" to them. And they HATE whoever they call a Marxist, or a racist, or liberal, or whoever their bigotry and authoritarian leaders tell them to hate.

Again, no facts, no answers, no reasoned discussion whatsoever.

Just hate.

How "Right" of those "Good conservatives". Today America's "Good conservatives" are no different than the "Good Germans" of the Third Reich.

Just substitute "liberal" for "Jew" and there you have it.

Call those who disagree a "Marxist Liberal" or "Marxist Jew". Same authoritarian radical Right mentality.

Just imagine these hateful thugs in power. Dismantling and undermining democracy is the first step. Or should I say first "goose step"?

And they are well on their way. They even have Obama getting with their program. But it's only bad when Obama does it. Cheney/Bush were compassionate "good conservatives".

CORNEL WEST (30 June 2013): We’re living in an age where we black folk are just being pushed to the back of the bus in terms of our visibility in terms of our suffering in terms of the intensity of our exclusion, especially our poor black youth, especially with

TAVIS SMILEY: Right.

CORNEL WEST: the new Jim Crow and so on. And we have to be honest about that. Again this has something to do of course with what history books will say. The irony of the age of Obama in which black folks found themselves pushed to the back our gay brothers and lesbian sisters more and more pushed to the center.

No, it's not my real name, but it's more identifiable than "anonymous" where there could be 20 of them. In fact I use this particular name EVERYWHERE. I've been using it for over 20 years. I'm not ashamed of who I am and what I say.

Anybody who thinks 2000 to 2008 was a shining success does not know anything about politics at all. I am always amazed with people with no knowledge of a subject but still have strong unshakable confidence in their opinions.

Americans consider blacks more likely to be racist than whites and Hispanics in this country.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of American Adults think most black Americans are racist, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 15% consider most white Americans racist, while 18% say the same of most Hispanic Americans. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

There is a huge ideological difference on this topic. Among conservative Americans, 49% consider most blacks racist, and only 12% see most whites that way. Among liberal voters, 27% see most white Americans as racist, and 21% say the same about black Americans.

From a partisan perspective, 49% of Republicans see most black Americans as racist, along with 36% of unaffiliated adults and 29% of Democrats.

Among black Americans, 31% think most blacks are racist, while 24% consider most whites racist and 15% view most Hispanics that way.

Among white adults, 10% think most white Americans are racist; 38% believe most blacks are racist, and 17% say most Hispanics are racist.